The Legal Reform Project, Part B is a bilateral collaboration between Bangladesh and Canada to support justice sector reform in Bangladesh, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The Executing Ministry for Bangladesh is the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. The Canadian Executing Agency, on behalf of CIDA, is a consortium of the Canadian Bar Association and IBM Canada. The Project is currently in an extension phase which was originally intended to end 31 March 2011, but has been extended to 31 March 2012 at the request of the Government of Bangladesh.
The purpose of the Project is to improve access to justice for the indigent in Bangladesh through more effective legal aid mechanisms. The Project supporst the development of government legal aid programs delivered by the National Legal Aid Services Organization under the Legal Aid Services Act 2000. The Project has three components:
• Supporting professional legal aid administrations in selected pilot Districts.
• Supporting and extending Duty Counsel Services.
• Capacity building for the National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO)
These components build on the Project’s work from 2003 to 2008. This work has been built around six coreprinciples, drawn from internationally accepted principles for access to justice: accesibility; equality and gender priority; transparency and efficiency; client focused services; service coordination; and quality legal aid services.
PROJECT SUMMARY
1. EXPANDING MODEL DISTRICT LEGAL AID COMMITTEES
From 2003-2008 the Project developed model legal aid programs in two pilot Districts, Jessore and Gazipur. These were subjected to careful evaluation and showed strong results in improving the quality and quantity of legal aid. Over the next 1.5 years, the Project and NLASO will continue support to Jessore and Gazipur. The model legal aid program has now been rolled out to five more Districts: Dhaka, Brahmanbaria, Comilla, Gopalgonj and Rajshahi. Assistance includes:
• Equipment for a legal aid office in each District;
• Hiring, training and supporting a Coordinator (staff lawyer) for each DLAC;
• Establishing a gender committee under each DLAC
• Operating funds for the legal aid office;
• Program fund and technical assistance for legal aid awareness and outreach;
• Training panel lawyers and monitoring panel standards;
In 2011 the GOB announced an intention to establish legal aid offices with full time staff in all 64 judicial districts of Bangladesh, based on the model developed by the Project. The proposed roll-out has already been approved by all relevant Ministries and is awaiting final approval from the Prime Minister's Office.
2. DUTY COUNSEL SERVICES
“Duty counsel” is a new type of legal aid service for Bangladesh, introduced on a pilot basis to Dhaka in March 2006. Duty counsel lawyers provide brief emergency services, usually on a one-time basis. Between March 2006 and March 2008, two staff lawyers in Dhaka saw more than 5,000 clients and released almost 800 adults and children on bail. From 2008 to 2010, the Dhaka Legal Aid office extended services to include informal mediation of family court matters, services to the Dhaka Vagrant's Home, and weekly advice clinics in the offices of the National Women's Organization. The duty counsel pilot project ended in December 2010 and the Project prepared a report for the NLASO on options for the formal adoption of duty counsel into the legal aid program.
3. CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT FOR NLASO
The Project is providing technical assistance and financial support to the NLASO to establish a national office and create programs under the mandate of the LASA 2000. The Government of Bangladesh has assigned a full-time Director for NLASO and a new office has been established for the organization, with the assistance from the Project. The Project is providing technical assistance and training to create a modern effective national legal aid management program, including strategic planning, systems for collecting and reporting legal aid statistics, financial management and forecasting. Between 2009 and 2011, the newly functional NLASO has introduced numerous policy reforms (most importantly the decision to assign full time staff to legal aid offices in all Districts), with Project support. In the final extension year, the Project is focusing most on providing policy advice to NLASO, supporting a strategic planning exercise, and transferring knowledge from the Project's pilot districts to the planned national roll-out.
It is expected that by the end of the Project, Bangladesh will have significantly advanced its capacity as a nation to deliver high-equality, effective and efficient legal aid services, thus improving access to justice and quality of life for poor and disadvantaged justice seekers.
In 2011 the GOB announced an intention to establish legal aid offices with full time staff in all 64 judicial districts of Bangladesh, based on the model developed by the Project. The proposed roll-out has already been approved by all relevant Ministries and is awaiting final approval from the Prime Minister's Office.
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